Software Engineer Principal

What We’re Looking For:   

We are seeking an engineering leader with a deep understanding of the challenges associated with SaaS. The ideal candidate has demonstrated servant leadership skills to facilitate teams in delivering high-quality software and fostering a culture of learning, adaptability, and growth. They possess extensive experience in planning across engineering initiatives, managing new feature delivery, production operations, and setting expectations. The candidate should have broad and profound technical knowledge, spanning from front-end UIs to back-end systems. 

Position Overview:  

This position will partner with the teams that produce Vertex’s core Tax Determination products: O Series and Certificate Center. O Series automates and centralizes sales, use, and value-added tax (VAT) determination. Certificate Center is a cloud-based paperless solution that automates and simplifies the tax exemption certificate process. 

The Principal Software Engineer will focus on multiple areas and provide leadership to the engineering teams. They will work to influence and build a vision with product managers, team members, and other engineering teams to solve complex problems. The role involves leading design sessions and conducting code reviews to elevate the quality of engineering across the organization. The candidate will utilize programming languages like Java, SQL, and NoSQL, container orchestration services including Docker and Kubernetes, and a variety of AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Azure tools and services. Additionally, the Principal Software Engineer will mentor junior team members to help them achieve success in their goals and contribute effectively to projects. 

Role Responsibilities:  

Scope 

• Plan across engineering initiatives and new feature delivery to find a balance between customer delivery and organizational health 

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to prepare technical design specifications based on product management and engineering initiatives 

• Identify opportunities for improvement in applications and provide actionable recommendations to the teams 

• Assist and mentor development staff in the delivery of product features 

Excellence 

• Helping to build successful teams that have a learning culture by providing direction and fostering communication to help teams make decisions to accomplish their goals 

• Assisting teams with technical conversations, driving towards action and a successful outcome for the customer and Vertex 

Communication & Influence 

• Build strong relationships with your team and stakeholders 

• Care about our customers and the impact our software has on their business outcomes 

• Demonstrate a willingness to learn, adjusting as needed to make improvements to the team’s processes, etc. 

• Provide feedback to peers and teams to instill a learning culture 

• Communicating clearly with executive leadership, peers, and development teams 

• Favor optimism 

Basic Qualifications 

• Significant experience in system engineering involving analytical systems design and implementation using Java/JEE technologies. 

• Fluency and specialization with any other modern language such as C# or Python is a plus 

• Experience in building products using microservices-oriented architecture and extensible REST APIs. 

• Experience in design (architecture, design patterns, reliability, and scaling) and implementation or enhancement of new and current systems. 

• Familiarity with continuous delivery and infrastructure as code. 

• Experience in transforming monolithic and legacy applications. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Fluency in DevOps Concepts, Cloud Architecture, and Azure DevOps Operational Framework. 

• Experience with application monitoring tools and performance assessments. 

• Understanding of security protocols & products including Active Directory, Windows Authentication, SAML, OAuth. 

• Experience with AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Azure; a background in multi-cloud environments. 

Education and Training 

• Bachelor’s OR Master’s Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field. 

• Minimum ten (10) years of experience in software development or equivalent combination of education and/or experience; flexible for the right candidate. 

Other Qualifications 
Demonstrate The Winning Way behaviors that all Vertex employees need in order to meet the expectations of each other, our customers, and our partners. 

• Communicate with Clarity - Be clear, concise, and actionable. Be relentlessly constructive. Seek and provide meaningful feedback. 

• Act with Urgency - Adopt an agile mentality - frequent iterations, improved speed, resilience. 80/20 rule – better is the enemy of done. Don’t spend hours when minutes are enough. 

• Work with Purpose - Exhibit a “We Can” mindset. Results outweigh effort. Everyone understands how their role contributes. Set aside personal objectives for team results. 

• Drive to Decision - Cut the swirl with defined deadlines and decision points. Be clear on individual accountability and decision authority. Guided by a commitment to and accountability for customer outcomes. 

• Own the Outcome - Defined milestones, commitments and intended results. Assess your work in context, if you’re unsure, ask. Demonstrate unwavering support for decisions. 

Comments:  

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals in this position. Other functions may be assigned, and management retains the right to add or change the duties at any time.